Kim Jong Un: "Coexistence possible if US drops hostile policy…South Korea is not our kin"

At party congress: "North Korea–US relations depend on the US"

"Conciliatory stance of S. Korean administration is a deceptive act"

North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un said that Pyongyang is prepared for both “peaceful coexistence” and “perpetual confrontation” with the United States, adding that North Korea–US relations depend entirely on Washington’s attitude. Regarding South Korea, he struck a hard line, saying it would be “permanently excluded from the category of our kin.”

On the 26th, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), in its report on the 9th Workers’ Party congress, carried details from Kim’s “work review report” delivered over the 20th and 21st. The party congress, which began on the 19th, closed on the 25th.

In the report, Kim stressed that it is his party’s “unwavering resolve” to further expand and strengthen the country’s nuclear forces and to fully exercise its status as a nuclear-armed state.

He went on to leave room for improved ties, saying, “If the United States respects our state’s current status as stipulated in the Constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and withdraws its hostile policy toward Korea, there is no reason for us not to get along with the United States.”

He said that “if the United States continues to come out in a confrontational manner, we will consistently respond in proportion, and there are more than enough means and methods to do so,” adding, “The prospects for DPRK–US relations depend entirely on the attitude of the US side. Whether it is peaceful coexistence or perpetual confrontation, we are prepared for everything.”

As for South Korea, he claimed that there is “absolutely nothing to discuss” with the Republic of Korea, which he called “the most hostile entity,” and that it would be “permanently excluded from the category of our kin.”

On this hard-line posture toward the South, Kim reiterated that he was “once again proclaiming it through the party congress, the supreme leadership body of the ruling party that determines the state’s line and policies.”

He also drew a line against the Lee Jae-myung administration, calling “the conciliatory stance the current ruling regime in South Korea outwardly professes” a “clumsy deceptive act” and a “botched piece of work.”

He denounced it as “a dangerous entity” that “preaches deceptive reconciliation and peace on the surface while scheming to disarm us,” dismissing as “a misguided practice that should no longer be sustained” the idea of continuing engagement “under the pretext of impossible reconciliation and unification.”

Kim also brushed aside the possibility of progress in inter-Korean relations, saying, “The only way for South Korea to live safely is to give up everything with us and not touch us.”

He further said South Korea must stop “unnecessary moves that could break the existing stability,” claiming, “If South Korea’s noisy actions carried out on the doorstep of a nuclear-armed state are deemed acts that damage our security environment, we can initiate any action at our discretion. In that extension, the possibility of South Korea’s complete collapse cannot be ruled out.”

Oh Se-seong, Hankyung.com reporter sesung@hankyung.com